Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1887-06-15
A SOUTH SEA ROMANCE.

When the ice broke up in the river the
| banks of the stream were immediately
lined with people who seemed to I'LL .
'.long felt want" in their innermOst souls
| by watching the grinding, rasping cakes
of ice as they came crashing over the falls
In company with numerous stray logs,
and went floating down the turbulent
river. There had been numerous Incl
dents of startling character in the course
of the forenoon, such as IN incipient jam
at the bridge, and two or three freckled
| urchins getting ducking, but it was not
| till afternoon that the event of the day oc-
| Cured.
When the ice had swept down to q
point opposite Goat Island dark object
| was sighted lying in the center of one of
the largest cakes Of ice. Glasses were at
| once Wrought into use, and thrill of hor-
ror ran through the crowd as it was seen
that sie dark object was evidently man.
There ;vax no boat above the falls, and if
there had been it would have been a mat
ter of life or death to venture out in that
dangerous mixture of ice, logs and
stumps, with likelihood of being drawn
over the falls.
The man was apparently dead. The
shouts of the crowd and the rough scrap
ing of rope, which some one had thrown
across his face, caused no stir in the re-
clining figure. The block of ice rapidly
neared the edge Of the falls, and the hor
rified spectators saw man and ice dive
over the faKS into the foam beneath. Two
minutes passed, when suddenly the block
of ice shot up into sight, and, strange to
say, the man was still there. The ice
cake at last got into an eddy, and as it
swept around near the banks was lassoed
by skillful throw, and the ice and it's
burden were hauled up to the edge. An
attempt was made to lift the body off, but
it was found that the clothing was frozen
firmly in the ice, and rather than undress
him they chopped him out with an ice
pick and carried him into jerks grocery
store. A physician was hastily sum-
moned, who startled the people by
announcing that the man was not
dead, only drunk. AS soon as the
man was thawed out, Bangs, the con-
stable, arrested him and lugged him off
to the lock up on a charge of drunkenness
and reveling. This morning, Bangs
came down to my house and said he
wanted me to go up and see his prisoner.
Bangs said that the judge didn't know
what to do with. him, and he got the
judge to sentence the prisoner to three
days hard labor in his BangsD garden.
As we walked up the road to the house
Bangs explained what he wanted of me.
"You see," said he, my yard needs
clearing up, and 80 / got him to do a
couple of days work In it. He is an old
man; mas been sailor nearly all his life.
He says he got lost up here on tramp in
the country Wednesday night, and he
took aboard a load of whisky to keep
II TOO he nvn1
got sleepy and laid down to sleep. I've
got bali and chain on his leg, SOS he
can't run away, and have got my little
boy to watch him. I went home an hour
or two ago and found him seated on the
ball, telling the youngster a story, while
the boy did the work. heard part OF
the story. It's so wonderful thought
you'd like to hear 1t.
just then we entered the yard, went
round back Of the house, and Bangs in
troduced me to the ancient mariner, as he
was called. He had refused to give his
name. Ipassed over three ''cart Wheels"
and he commenced.
"It's queer sort Of story anyway, and
maybe you won't believe it. To begin
with, when was . yOungester, some fifty
or sixty years ago, used to live in the
next house to another young fellow, John
J; Jones, He was different from the rest
of us, and while we other boys used to
play 'one, two, three, as the now popu-
lar game of base ball used to be known,
he used to be reading up on natural
history and such like, and after while
he got taken up with stock breeding
fancy mich cows, fast trotters. big hogs,
etc. Before I ran away to sea he had
taken first prize at the state fair for q
r. ~, "a L.
he suddenly left town, going nobody
knew where. / ran away to sea shortly
afterward. About two years ago I was
washed overheard from the clipper
ship Terror, bound from Chingook,
China, to Boston with a load of tea.
Some one had seen me go overheard and
had thrown hencOop over. I managed
to get up on the hencoop, lashed myself
there by my shirt, which L tore up into
strips, and then lay there, and every
time the hencoop and myself would come
up on the top of a big wave, I would
watch the ship as it drove off before the
storm and gradually disappeared in the
flying mist. Before long the ship was
out of sight, and, wearied as was, sank
into deep, stupor like sleep.
~ don't know how long remained in
that state, but it must have been day
or two, for when woke up found my
sen sun On Ine .encoop anu noaelns
arouha IN SoI' VI a =. n nSd i n VI .I III
iarge islalu a.. a sor. VI eauy SCI II. Sns,e,
anu nociceo IhaC was solne !ounu Ia
clrcie t,last s was srauuapy gr4"s ig.l.
n a nui y, lec1 away ~ e"w t, W my no
SIlae tlere wels 'nree naGlxes ofu JULIE
uoNn 'neis Al. Al Ine sun aS VAIL
ing me anu .he lenco9p, paCieh. i,s Mai .
Ior me tlme Wnen l N wouiu e er,,o n 4,at
enough lor tnenl 70 ~. h,e l1 ,ant, t iat
III, hos n al0e my ppuy . on inon
ny lsa'ns mas ., snu INV
=, LIS 4.t
sa.. keps " sn0s po,. .S q. -.
+essals VI "n noui' "''u ~ snuoy 'n' '"A
vent down and The natives built fire |
and sat around it,. They kept an eye on
me, and bfmeby one Of them came down
to the water and watched me Is I fioated |
iaziiy past, evidently frying to determine